Trump confirmed for ASEAN Summit

Saturday, September 30, 2017 16:28

US President Donald Trump will travel to Japan, South Korea, China, Vietnam and the Philippines from Nov 3-14 to attend regional summits and discuss trade and the North Korean nuclear threat, the White House confirmed on Friday.

"The president's engagements will strengthen the international resolve to confront the North Korean threat and ensure the complete, verifiable, and irreversible denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula," it said in a statement.

There had been speculation earlier that Mr Trump would skip the Asean summit in Manila as his relationship with Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte had cooled after the latter's anti-American outbursts, but the White House is now saying he will attend the event on Nov 13 and 14.

Asian leaders who met with Mr Trump on the sidelines of the recent UN General Assembly meetings were said to have helped persuade the president that attending the Asean summit would be important for him, source from Bangkok Post.